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See those little rings straddling the clamp on Todd Wells' (Specialized) Syntace cockpit setup? That bar is normally intended for Syntace's adjustable VRO setup. Either way, the 25.4mm clamp diameter is lighter than the current 31.8mm standard and at Sun Valley, light apparently made right

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Specialized include a tapered head tube on the S-Works Stumpjumper 29er

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Specialized keep the top tube and down tube very wide to provide extra front triangle stiffness

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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The Reba S29 fork is the result of a joint collaboration between Specialized and RockShox, using a Reba lower chassis and Specialized carbon fiber crown and steerer - all filled with standard RockShox Dual Air guts on one side and Specialized's own Brain inertia valve damper on the other

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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A top-mounted threshold adjuster makes for easy changes in fork activity for various courses

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Todd Wells (Specialized) easily could have shed more weight by going with 26in wheels but after switching to 29ers for racing back in 2009, he says it'd be hard to go back

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Specialized introduced carbon mountain bike rims to the public last year

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Todd Wells (Specialized) used the fast rolling S-Works Renegade 1.95in tires to win his US national cross-country title

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Specialized don't use a through-axle on the front of their S-Works Stumpjumper 29er but the hugely oversized hub end caps seem to do a good job of keeping flex at bay

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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The Specialized team run minimal Carbon Ti skewers on their cross-country bikes but also hugely oversized hub end caps

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Even the Carbon Ti skewers are etched with the riders' names

(James Huang/BikeRadar)

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Simple guides keep the rear brake and derailleur housings in place on the underside of the top tube

CrankBrothers' latest Eggbeater 11 pedals have optional interchangeable spacers that attach on either side of the wings to help stabilize the shoe. Todd Wells (Specialized) apparently doesn't need much extra for his Specialized S-Works shoes

Todd Wells (Specialized) made good on his status as the favorite for the 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross-Country National Championships, winning the title for the second year in a row ahead of Sam Schultz (Subaru-Trek) and Adam Craig (Rabobank-Giant). The Sun Valley, Idaho course featured a healthy amount of singletrack on the way down but a brutal fire road on the way up that Wells says demanded the lightest possible equipment.

"This course was a lot of climbing – more sustained climbing than we have at any races nowadays – so I just picked the lightest setup, which was the Stumpjumper 29er hardtail and some low-rolling-resistance tires," he told BikeRadarthe following morning. "Really, I just picked everything based on that climb."

Even the ESI Racer's Edge silicone foam rubber grips are among the lightest available, and CrankBrothers Eggbeater 11 pedals are the obvious choice for shedding mass with their minimal design and mostly titanium construction. The only non-standard bits were wheel skewers and a seatpost collar from Carbon Ti – both custom etched and anodized for the team. Total weight as pictured is an outstanding 8.64kg (19.05lb).

Gearheads will undoubtedly point out, though, that Wells could have quickly and easily saved even more weight. "For a course like this where it's just smooth and fast, I thought about running our really skinny 1.8in Renegades because they're super-light," he said. "But I rode through the rock garden just one time and cut the side of the tire. I'd run through it a couple of times, too, and it was only a second or two slower but I wanted to try and stay on the bike so I went with a bigger volume tire."

Wells could also have dropped lots of weight with 26in wheels, but after making the switch to 29ers two years ago, he says he's unlikely to go back. "I don't know – they're different styles of riding," he told us. "Riding a two-six is still a lot of fun. I have a dirt jump bike that's a two-six and I have a bigger bike that's also a two-six. They're easier to whip around and they feel snappier and more responsive than a two-niner. But for racing, it's hard to go back and forth between the two bikes so I doubt [I'll ever switch]."

Specialized don't use a through-axle on the front of their s-works stumpjumper 29er but the hugely oversized hub end caps seem to do a good job of keeping flex at bay:

Specialized don't use a through-axle on the front of their S-Works Stumpjumper 29er but the hugely oversized hub end caps seem to do a good job of keeping flex at bay

Wells' overall setup doesn't change much from course to course, save for tire models, tire pressures and suspension settings, as he prefers to keep things consistent for familiarity and predictability. "Today I'm going to run a bigger-volume tire – either the Renegade or Fast Trak," he told us on the morning of the Nationals short track race. "It's fast but there are also a lot of loose corners. But [I'll run] lower tire pressure today for sure because we don't go through the rock garden and that was the one section I was worried about flatting on yesterday. I ran 26[psi] in the back and 24.5 in the front – I'll probably go with 22 or 23 in the front and 24 in the back."

"Sometimes we change the shock pressures a little bit," he continued. "If it's a rough course we'll run a little lower pressure so the shock works more and I'll open the Brain [inertia valve] more. On a slow, rough course – like Mont-Sainte-Anne where there's a lot of uphill or flat technical sections and you're not going very fast – I'll have the Brain left open more so the shock is less likely to close."

Specialized keep the top tube and down tube very wide to provide extra front triangle stiffness:

Specialized keep the top tube and down tube very wide to provide extra front triangle stiffness

We caught team mechanic Sandy Gilchrist clipping half of the center knobs off a Specialized S-Works Fast Trak tire the night before the short track. According to Gilchrist, Wells wanted to keep those as an alternative tire for the course's gravelly corners where the slightly more open pattern provided a touch more grip.

Wells wasn't able to score the double repeat, finishing just behind Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski who put in a late surge on the last lap to earn his fourth national short track title. Even so, you'd think that a rider with Wells' pedigree who'd just won yet another stars-and-stripes championship would get a matching custom bike afterward to celebrate, right?

Not so fast. Wells said he wasn't expecting anything and in his trademark understated style, he didn't seem a bit upset about it. "[Specialized] have so many great athletes on their team that if it's not a world championship, it's like [shrugs his shoulders and laughs]," he said humbly. "It's good and bad – to be surrounded by such great athletes, it's pretty cool."

Even star riders couldn’t do their job successfully without a reliable machine - todd wells (specialized) put his money on personal mechanic myron billy for this build:

Even star riders couldn’t do their job successfully without a reliable machine – Todd Wells (Specialized) put his money on personal mechanic Myron Billy for this build